Old Blue Bucks

Yale hits its jackpot

With a sigh of relief, Yale University officials last week proclaimed the triumph of their $370 million fund-raising campaign, the largest ever undertaken by a U.S. university. Said Yale's president, A. Bartlett Giamatti: "Clearly a tremendous success has been achieved." He might have added: "Finally."

Originally announced in 1974 as a 3 1/2-year drive, the campaign deadline had to be extended, first by one year and then by another six months. Fund raising was hampered by poor coordination of 5,400 volunteer solicitors, and by the mid-campaign departure of Giamatti's predecessor, Kingman Brewster, who joked that his supporters among Old Blues would contribute before he left (to become U.S. ambassador to Britain), while his detractors would contribute after his departure. Something like that may have happened: Campaign Director Lloyd N. Cutler said last week that "a number of people who were standoffish in the beginning warmed up enormously" after listening to Giamatti's persuasive pitch.

Now that their major campaign is over, fund raisers can focus on the university's more routine, annual solicitations This year's goal: a mere $50 million. qed

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